Trial and Error
by ImAGiver
Summary: Dean tests the "speck" of grace left in Castiel the best way he knows how... Contains drunk! and almost human!Castiel


"C'mon, Cas, you know you love the taste of it…" Dean said in a sing-song voice, circling the shot of tequila under the nose of the anxious angel. Well, half-angel. Team Free Will was at the moment at a bar, trying to assess the damage done to Cas' grace after his fight with his dick brothers aka the Angels.

Sam spared a long-suffering glower to his older brother who always seemed so intent on torturing their celestial counterpart with worldly-wise offerings. "Dean, he's already had three."

"Yeah, and he's still perfectly sober. Look, I'm just trying to help him. The only way to see if his grace is still a-kickin',"

"-Is to make him a sponge up as much alcohol as possible?" Sam offered ironically.

Dean gave his little brother an equally ironic laugh before turning to the still solemn, intently gazing Castiel. Even in his partially human state, the trench coat-clad angel still had the intensity of a much higher being. "Okay, Cas, drink up. I've got four shots here, and we're going to make the most of 'em!"

"I think Sam is right. My body is not in the same repair as it used to be." Castiel replied with a downcast expression, his tone slightly bitter.

Dean slammed his fist on the table, causing both his brother and the angel on the other side of the booth to look up suddenly. "No! Listen up, Cas. I don't want to hear anymore of this talk about you not being good enough, you hear me? I mean, c'mon, who was the guy who fought of three archangels without a single weapon?"

Castiel looked to Sam for support against the impassioned hunter. Sam simply shook his head at his brother's antics before turning to his work, leaving Castiel to awkwardly reply, "That was me."

"Yeah, and who was the guy who survived a full-out confrontation with the devil himself and lived to tell the tale?"

"The was me as well." Castiel said tonelessly, not understanding what Dean was getting at.

"And who was the dude that's pulled my and Sam's ass out of more shit then anyone else?"

"Dean, I do not understand why you are asking me these questions. If you remember correctly, I did all of that." Castiel pointed out, as if Dean were dense, and Sam failed to stifle his laughter behind the cover of his laptop.

"What I'm trying to say (Mr. Oblivious) is that if you can do all that crap, you can definitely knock back a few dozen more of these bad boys." Dean nodded, sitting back with a confident nod to the shots on the table.

Cas seemed to consider the other man's words and then nodded, a small smile playing on his lips. "Okay. I can do this."

XxxxXXXxxxX

"I can't believe it was humanly possible to barf that much!" Dean exclaimed.

"Yeah, at least we know his gag reflex isn't fully _human_." Sam joked dryly, shifting most of the weight of the groaning and dizzy Castiel on Dean as he removed the keys to the rundown motel room.

"Ha ha, wish I had the sense to get you drunk. Your jokes aren't as stupid when you're sober," Dean replied, grunting a bit as they started walking the angel over to the beds. The two brothers gently laid the Castiel down onto the pillows, ignoring the louder groan that escaped his lips.

"_Please_ _don't throw up on the bedspread, please don't throw up on bedspread…_" Dean and Sam chanted in their minds. They didn't want to end up washing vomit off the motel sheets all night. They learned quickly angel barf was just as disgusting as the human kind.

Instead, Castiel turned bleary, drunken eyes on Dean, a hint of hate still smoldering in them. "I do not think I can handle my drinking as well as I used to."

"Yeah, well, you're still a perfectly functional angel in our books," Sam reassured, patting Castiel's chest warmly.

Dean nodded in genuine agreement. "He's right. I guess the thing we learn from this experience is that you don't go drinking with a guy that's all hands." Dean winked and both Sam and Cas let out an exasperated groan.

XxxxXXXxxxX

A/N: Finals are over! If yours are too, review! (Yeah, that doesn't make much sense, but do it anyways.)


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